News

June 16, 2015 - NASA is hosting several lectures today as part of a conference on astrobiology and the search for life in space. These lectures will also be broadcast online at http://ac.arc.nasa.gov/abscicon.

June 14, 2015 - Some great news from the Rosetta mission today as they have announced that the Philae lander, thought to have died on the surface of a distant comet, has today come back to life and is sending data back to the Earth. This is great news for planetary and comet scientists, who can now get a closer look at just what comets are made of.

June 11, 2015 - It would seem that after a number of battery problems with the satellite carrying the experimental light sail, the Planetary Society team behind it has decided to deploy the sail early. It can now be seen from the ground, but for how long no one knows. Details on viewing it can be found here.

June 8, 2015 - Apparently the IAU is looking for suggestions for names of several recently discovered exoplanets. Astronomy clubs can give their suggestions here (I am not sure if they will accept suggestions from individuals) and voting should start sometime next week.

June 7, 2015 - A few weeks ago I reported on efforts by the planetary society to fund a solar sail. Today the first tests were conducted and from what I am hearing, they were very successful. Congratulations to the team behind this great project!

June 6, 2015 - I am honoured to see this morning that my website has now passed 25,000 separate visits from friends and followers around the world. I am humbled to have my writings and random thoughts reach such a large audience.

June 5, 2015 - For those who are interested in such things as critical thinking, reason and evidence based theories, registrations are open for The Amaz!ng Meeting 2015 in Las Vegas this July. 

May 28, 2015 - I have had a couple of old classmates tell me they couldn't find my Facebook page amidst the thousands of people who share my name. For any friends/family/coworkers/classmates who wish to find me, the address is https://www.facebook.com/cbird

May 24, 2015 - I just heard the tragic news that John Nash, the father of modern game theory, was killed today in a car accident. He contributed a lot to the study of mathematics and probabilities, and this is a real loss to the academic world (even if he was mostly retired).

May 14, 2015 - Another great crowdfunding project has been launched, this time to produce an experimental light sail for use in space exploration. The planetary society wants to raise $1.2million to build a light sail and test it for thirty days sometime next year. If successful, it could be a more efficient method of launching probes to other planets and interesting objects within our solar system.

May 11, 2015 - In honour of the great work of Carl Sagan both as a scientist and science outreach icon, the Institute for Pale Blue Dots has been renamed The Carl Sagan Institute. Their goal is to bring researchers from a variety of fields together to work on issues related to exploring other worlds, and the possibility of life in space.

May 7, 2015 - Today is National Day of Reason for our friends and neighbours down south. A day to celebrate the power of the human mind to solve problems with reason and logic instead of superstition. More details can be found here.


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